The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-09-08
THE srARtk eOrNTx DFssrOCRA r SEPT 1887 FKECy

the ends of the earth. This man is not |
sufficiently known and too little honored. |
He was one of the most modest of man,
and plain mechanic, matchmaker.
There is a statue of James Watt in |
Glasgow, where he lived and where for |
years he labored on his invention.
Greenock also honors him with statue
for he was born there in 1876. In Edin-
burgh, too, is one.
The steam engine was wholly Watts
invention, although he began expert
ments upon Newcomers atmospheric
engine, in which steam was only used to
create vacuum so that the pressure of
the atmosphere would drive DOWN the
piston in the cylinder and thus raise the
attached the pump rod, and thus was
the water pumped from the deep coal
mines of England.
The steam was condensed very slowly,
and hence the Newcomer engine operat-
ed slowly and cost very heavily. Watt,
years after, thus told to "a friend, Mr.. Rob-
ert Hart, the story of his discovery:
II had gone to take walk on a fine
Sabbath afternoon. l had entered the
Green by the gate at the foot of Char
lotte street, and had passed the old wash
ing house. 1 was thinking upon the
engine at the time, and had gone as far
as the herds house, when the idea came
into my mind that as the steam was an
elastic body, it would rush into a vacuum,
and if a communication were made be
tween the cylinder and an exhausted
vessel, it would rush into it and might
be then condensed without cooling the
cylinder. l then saw that must get rid
of the condensed steam and the injection
water if l used jet, as in Newcomers
engine. Two ways of doing this occurred
to me. First, the water might be run off
by descending pipe, if an of-let could
be got at the depth of 35 or 36 feet, and
any air might be extracted by small
pump. The second was to make the
pump large enough to extract both water
and air." He continued: 81 had not
walked further than the Golf house when
the whole thing was arranged in my
mind"
When we consider that the power Of
steam had been known long before, in
fact experimental with in Alexandria
two thousand years ago, it seems strange
that it was not sooner practically applied
The modest Watt said to Professor Jar.
dine late in life that when it was ana
lived the invention would not appear SC
great as it seemed to be. "In the state,
he said, sin which 1 found the steam
engine, it was no great effort of mind tC
observe that the quantity of fuel necessa
ry to make it work would forever prevent
its extensive utility. The next step il
my progress was equally easy-to en-
quire what was the cause of the grea
consumption of fuel: this, too, was readi
ly uggested-namely, the waste of fue
which was necessary to bring the whole
cylinder, piston and adjacent parts from
the coldness of water to the heat o
steam, no fewer than from fifteen tt
twenty times in minute" Here it wal
, the idea of a separate vessel to condensC
, the steam flashed on his mind, solved
the difficulty and opened the way to hi
great future
, There was no accident in Watts dis
covery. 1t was the result of close anC
continuous study for years, and his idei
| of the separate condenser was the las
step of long journey of consecutive
thought. The learned DIR. Black says
: "this capital improvement flashed upol
, his mind at once, and filled him will
9 rapture"
:. The morning after that Sunday wall
s he was up in season and borrowed iron
z a college friend large brass syringe, al
t inch and third in diameter, and tel
t inches long, of the kind used by anatom
t lists for injecting arteries with wax pre-
: vious to dissection. This was arranged
and attached to boiler and condense
= arranged, the condensing pipes and al
l pump being placed in reservoir of coli
L water. When putin operation the thinj
:. worked as we'll as could be expected from
1 the imperfect arrangement.
Watt found great difficulty after thi
q in constructing a working model to shov
a machine driven entirely by steam. Ii
| himself, though mechanic, had beer
} accustomed only to small metal worl
' with delicate tools, and in Glasgow thert
/, were no competent wOrkmen to carry
1 out his plans. In consequence his frs
= model was only partially successful
t The experiments made with it, however
. served to verify his expectations and tt
t show the invention success.
: The following year he constructed an
4 other and bigger model, with cylinde
' five or six inches in diameter and a tive
& feet stroke. When finished and set t.
s work it leaked in all directions, for tht
}. cylinder was not bored but hammered
i no boring of cylinders being done il
q Glasgow in those days. All this shows
: the difficulties under which Watt labor
ed. His mind, however, was wholly en-
: crossed in the work, and he says himself
S Il can think of nothing else
e Watt was poor and had not the capita
: wherewith to go on and give fair tria
Y to his discovery. At last, though, he go
! this, DR.. Roebuck being his first patron
| He finally joined with Matthew Boulton
t the firm being Boulton & Watt, manu-
. facturers of steam engines. How the,
) pumped out all the water in the Cornisl
' mines, and how Watt finally attained
/ prosperity as we'll as success are matter
E of history. The way, too, that Watt
3 great discovery has extended and it
1 general use, now are known of all men
' The steam engines now used in manu-
b featuring, in propelling vessels, AM
5 whirling railway trains, etc., ETC., ar
) substantially the discovery and inven
I ton of James Watt.
VI Watt died in 1920 thus living lon
4 enough to see the grand success of hi
! great discovery. Where is the benefac
tor of mankind to compare with him?
= A. McGREGeR.
II Cadzow Cottage, Alfred street.
, Dunoon, Scotland, August IA, 1887.